Experts have pointed out that the number of women doing bank transactions using mobile phones or internet in Nepal is very low. They say that although women's literacy has increased significantly in recent years, their participation in using digital financial tools has not increased as expected.

Speakers at the 'Ring the Bell' program for gender equality held in Lalitpur on Thursday expressed the view that gender inequality in digital access will seriously affect the sustainable economic development of the country. They said that the problem of digital divide existing in the financial sector on the basis of gender should be addressed.

Patricia Fernandez-Pacheco, the United Nations agency UN Women's representative for Nepal, held the opinion that although Nepal has achieved progress in the literacy rate of women, there is still a need for initiatives in financial inclusion. "Nepal now has the most educated generation of women, from 42 percent female literacy in 2001 to 69 percent," she said, "businesses run by women have now reached one third and this number is increasing." "A total of 41 percent of women use the Internet, while the number of men who use the Internet is 61 percent," she said based on the data of the World Bank in 2022, "This shows that the digital gender gap is increasing. Only 15 percent of women use digital payments in Nepal. According to

Patricia, if the digital divide is not addressed, Nepal's economic growth and sustainable development will be hindered. He said that Nepal cannot ignore the potential of women's entrepreneurship as it is being upgraded from a very less developed country to a developing country in 2026. She said that improving financial and digital literacy is important from providing unsecured credit facilities for women.

National Officer of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Nirmal Dahal also said that there is gender inequality in booking access, digital payments, getting loans. "There is a significant increase in digital financial services/facilities in Nepal, but it seems that men use mobile wallets or banking apps more than women," he said. Only 27 percent of women are in mid-level management. In the

program, Finland's ambassador to Nepal Reina-Rikka Heikka said that although digital technology is important for women's economic empowerment, many women in rural areas are lagging behind due to lack of digital literacy. "Some women lack awareness about digital literacy and online financial facilities," she said. According to him, women are lagging behind in banking, credit and financial opportunities. "Unless women are encouraged in digital finance, the contribution of women in the overall financial and economic sector will remain limited," he said.

According to Deputy Secretary Poudel, limited financial instruments are also a factor behind the low participation of women in the capital market in Nepal. "We don't have an exchange-trend fund, the derivative market has just started and mutual funds are limited," he said. "European countries have technologies like robo-advisors, which help women do business, go to the financial market, take risks and make strategies, from evaluating small and medium enterprises." This kind of technology seems to be useful in Nepal as well.'